Chapter 1243: 【1243】Not Naive
"No matter which one it is, at this stage the patient definitely needs to receive treatment in our cardiology department, as they have not yet met the surgical criteria," Doctor Dong suddenly declared.
Li Chengyuan merely snorted calmly in response to this statement.
Huang Zhilei and Xin Yanjun both let out an internal "Eh," realizing what the two were arguing over—it turned out to be a dispute over whether the patient should belong to cardiology or thoracic surgery.
In cases of myocarditis, early-stage internal medicine treatment can be quite effective. As long as it’s well controlled, there wouldn’t be significant complications.
Dilated cardiomyopathy, however, is far more frightening. Internal medicine treatment offers virtually no effective drugs and patients essentially have to wait until the condition worsens enough to require a heart transplant. In other words, if it is dilated cardiomyopathy, surgery in the thoracic department is inevitable someday.
In later stages of myocarditis, some patients exhibit symptoms similar to dilated cardiomyopathy. However, if managed properly, it’s possible to reduce the dilation of the myocardium. Doctor Dong insisted on this point, emphasizing that even cases of dilated cardiomyopathy can be treated by internal medicine. Li Chengyuan, being from thoracic surgery, was naturally intent on refuting this viewpoint as fundamentally impossible. True dilated cardiomyopathy simply has no viable pharmacological treatment.
Now, Doctor Dong’s declaration effectively signaled that he couldn’t argue further against the opposition.
As a fellow internal medicine doctor, Xin Yanjun quietly encouraged Doctor Dong, saying, "Don’t give up so easily, Xiao Dong."
In response, Doctor Dong displayed self-awareness. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said earlier that working here was like being a frog slowly boiled in water.
"Didn’t you mean that we could outmatch them?" Xin Yanjun was surprised by the complete reversal he presented in his explanation.
No, no, no—slow-boiled water peels the frog’s skin, revealing the prince’s true self as proud and unyielding. For him and Xin Yanjun, both mild-mannered individuals, there was no chance they could win a debate against these two sharp-tongued "frog princes."
By knowing when to bow out, Doctor Dong decided not to argue further and instead grabbed his stethoscope and walked over to examine the female patient.
Huang Zhilei glanced at his previously silent little junior colleague, who seemingly realized something and chose to refrain from speaking.
Moreover, what Li Chengyuan said held a certain logic—dilated cardiomyopathy ultimately requires surgical intervention. If this patient is indeed confirmed to have such a condition, it wouldn’t hurt to establish early contact with the thoracic surgeons. Waiting until internal medicine fails and the patient suffers acute heart failure before frantically seeking external help would be far from ideal.
Even among the thoracic surgeons, they have knowledge of how to use medications to control symptoms of myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy. However, since surgical beds are often limited, these cases are handed off to internal medicine for treatment. Even so, Li Chengyuan couldn’t possibly tolerate Doctor Dong’s view, as it encroached on work that should rightfully belong to the surgical department.
As for the current patient in front of them, whether this case was latent progressive myocarditis or dilated cardiomyopathy required further examination. Deep down, all the doctors hoped the patient’s condition was mild, because if it were merely acute myocarditis, the prognosis could still be relatively optimistic. The greatest fear was that the patient’s condition would progress as Li Chengyuan predicted.
Doctor Dong’s concession ultimately acknowledged this fact: myocarditis typically involves inflammation, while ventricular dilation reflects structural changes in the heart—akin to the difference between quantitative change and qualitative change.
It could only be said that both Li Chengyuan and the "robot" Fu Xinheng shared a dislike for saying anything naïve or overly hopeful.